Conventions

Just LOOK at your hair!  So you hanker after the bright-blue-lips and bangs look? You want to make an entrance looking like an extra from The Lion King?   You like the idea of switching your corn rows for a Russian Imperial Cavalry hairstyle?  Oh, wait, you have a secret hankering to wear a loom on your head?  Oh, you’re just here to hear Musiq Soulchild in concert?  Well, whatever.  At the Bronner Bros International Hair Show you can check All Of The Above. The only trade show dedicated to the care of “black” hair.   As one delegate gushed, “I had a complete blast at the Bronner Bros Show. I live for cosmetology in every aspect! We are a fabulous industry!” This show is Nikki Minaj to the 100th power. Oh, btw, if you opted for the Loom-On-Your-Head look, just be careful about walking through doors…

For more than 30 years, Abilities Expo has also provided an excellent forum for companies with disability products and services to reach out and enhance the lives of this Community.

AAHPERD? What’s that? Well, it’s the American Alliance for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance, since you ask. AAHPERD’s mission is “To promote and support leadership, research, education, and best practice in the professions that support creative, healthy, and active lifestyles”. AAHPERD envisions a society in which all individuals enjoy an optimal quality of life through appreciation of and participation in an active and creative, health-promoting lifestyle. Topics that came up for discussion at the show included physical education, health education, kinesiology (that’s all that biomechanics and motor development stuff), sport, dance and recreational activities of every type. Oh, and don’t even THINK about sitting on the sidelines and not getting involved. C’mon, on your feet everyone…

Virginia, we were told, is for wine-lovers, and Richmond’s Wineries Unlimited show never lost sight of that message. Wineries Unlimited is a division of Vineyard & Winery Management magazine, the leader in wine industry professional development and North America’s leading independent wine trade publication. Any idea how much stuff you need to be in the wine-making business? Think barrel and tank cleaning systems, cork supplies, bottling plant, label-printing, fencing, measurement and analysis tools, barrelage, vine-stock acquisition… The list goes on and on. Special Guest Speakers this year included Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell, and Virginia’s Secretary of Agriculture and Forestry, Todd Haymore. Back by popular demand was Virginia native Andy Beckstoffer of Beckstoffer Vineyards, delivering the General Session Keynote. Oh, and you had to be over 21 to attend. May I see i/d please?

ACRL is the Association of College and Research Libraries, and it claims to be “peer-revered”, whatever that turns out to mean. Actually “peers” seem to be a big thing with this group, as in “ACRL 2011 features more than 300 thought-provoking sessions hand-selected by your peers. In today’s fast-paced and changing world, keeping current is more essential than ever”. You needed to be there to “access cutting-edge information, discover new ideas, and engage in conversations with academic and research librarians from around the world”. Not to mention finding new ways of getting people to return the damn books when they’re finished with them. You never imagined, did you, that people running libraries, of all things, would be making so much sheer noise about themselves…? Okay, all together now: Shhhhh!!!!